UW-Madison students offered their solutions to an \intellectual puzzlement"" for author Susan Shirk Thursday.
Shirk, who served as the former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia during the Clinton administration, sought input from UW-Madison students to possibly include in her upcoming book that will focus on China's changing attitudes in international relations.
Before delving into China's recent political history on the international scene, Shirk said she thinks China is now at a crucial point and a ""moment of conflict"" due to its position as a rising international power.
According to Shirk, before 1999, China acted belligerently toward the United States, Taiwan and especially Japan, but has restrained its hostility in recent years.
""[China] is starting to treat hot button issues more similarly to the way it treats other issues,"" she said. ""No matter what the Bush administration seems to do ... you can really see that China is exercising restraint when it comes to the United States.""
Shirk said motives for China's former hostility are clear.
""The Communist Party leadership in China is very insecure,"" she said. ""What they fear most of all is an [internal] social movement ... to overthrow communist rule.""
According to Shirk, China's leaders took an overly strong stance on international relations to rally domestic support. This support unified Chinese people, diverting their attention from internal concerns.
However, Shirk said she cannot completely explain China's recent shift toward restraint with the United States, Taiwan and Japan.
""I'm finding it harder to explain restraint,"" she said.
Though he said China's motives perplex him as well, UW-Madison junior Daniel Zhu said China's shift does not particularly surprise him.
""I have to agree with [Shirk] that China eventually had to recognize this role,"" he said. ""They realized they needed to be not as aggressive.""
Shirk addressed three possible explanations for China's change in policy: unified oligarchy, reciprocal accountability and interdependence.
Though arguments exist to support each potential solution, Shirk enumerated faults in each and desired contributions from the audience to help formulate her thesis.
Though not all students had a solution to Shirk's conundrum, many said they were affected by the information she presented.
UW-Madison senior Ian Povlich said he thought Shirk's emphasis on China's restraint presented an interesting contrast between Chinese and U.S. relational tactics.
""I think the restraint policy she talked about is in opposition to the current U.S. policy,"" he said.
